Polygala fruticosa is a common shrub found on rocky slopes of the Western Cape, the Eastern Cape and into KwaZulu-Natal. It looks a little different in some areas across this domain.

The broader family of Polygalaceae, or milkworts, comprise nearly a thousand species in 17 genera and are distributed almost worldwide. More than a third of the 600 Polygala species, the largest genus of the family, occur in Africa.